Many fluid handling applications involving biopharmaceutical processes, including filtration, chromatography and mixing, require a pump to move liquid. In critical process applications the pumps are designed to be either easily cleaned and sanitized before and after each use or designed for single use, thus controlling or reducing microbial contamination. However, often these process applications require high quality components that demand precision or that can withstand added wear or high pressures, which makes the parts too valuable to throw away after a single or small number of uses. Also, having to clean and/or sanitize such high quality components can add delays or even increase costs.
A diaphragm style pump can be used to pump liquid in such critical process applications. In fact, they are used in processes with one pump “head” or with two or more pump “heads” depending on the application. The diaphragm pump cycles between drawing in liquid and expelling liquid from its inner pump chamber. The pump can draw liquid in by different means including gravity (from a pressure head), a vacuum to draw in the diaphragm, and/or by a piston type of mechanism. The pump can expel liquid by different means including a piston or air pressure. However, as with the critical process applications described above, diaphragm pumps are still required to be cleaned and/or sanitized between uses.
It is therefore desirable to provide an apparatus and method for use with a diaphragm pump for critical process applications that overcomes the shortcomings found in the prior art. In particular, an apparatus and method that allows such diaphragm assemblies to be easily cleaned, sterilized or uncontaminated between uses.